The Hidden Link

Some days I wonder if spending a year driving a Wienermobile somehow caused permanent brain damage. Perhaps the lack of A/C during the summer months caused a few brain cells to boil. Maybe it was the lack of heat during the winter months that froze a few too. Maybe, just maybe it was listening to 27 versions of the wiener jingle over the PA at all those store calls.

Sometimes I catch a glimpse of Hot Dog Red (the name of the paint color on the hot dog portion of the Wienermobile - though it looks more orange than red) out of the corner of my eye and think I see the dog. It usually happens when I'm driving. I've seen the color enough to know instantly if it really is the dog or if it's just something close in color. It usually happens when I'm not expecting it. Like it did today.

A few minutes ago I clicked on one of the links over there to the right as my jumping off point on a virtual trip through the web. What I like to do is to start with one of those blogs and then click on a link that that blogger recommends. I do this for a few blogs to see where it takes me. It's like a choose your own adventure book. You can always go back a blog and choose again if you do not like where you've ended up. Sometimes you can end up in the most unlikely places.

Here is the trail I followed today: I started by clicking on Interactive Architecture, which lead me to gravestmor.

Now, normally I would keep clicking on recommended links to get some distance between me and my own blog. I usually get about five or six links in before I start browsing around. Today, however, I started browsing right away at gravestmor. It only took me one post before I found myself clicking on the link it suggested to follow. That link took me to a post on Youtube where I found myself watching what a fellow reader of gravestmor described this way:

“I saw this a few weeks ago and thought it was one of the coolest all time animation presentations ever…

I mean, you’re taken on an emotional roller coaster…at first your like…jeez, who do these guys think they are, showing off their office like that…so pompous…and then you’re like…wtf…where did those bars come from…and then all of a sudden there’s an f@#$#@ing building growing, and the cameras all shaky and shit…and then boom….wireframe, and out of nowhere comes a frigging city where did that shit come from all of a sudden…and just when you think it can’t get any better…

THEY TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL…amazing…you’re in the building…you’re looking at it while driving down the street….you’re all over town…and when you think you can’t take anymore, it fades to black.and you’re like…thank god, i can’t take anymore…only to come back with a friggin 360 panorama…like…let me off…think i’m going to puke…feel bad for the people in the three cars behind me….i mean, what a RIDE!!!!

love it….love it.”

And what did I see in the video that caught my attention? I will tell you this... it wasn't Hot Dog Red, but the shape was unmistakable. Pay close attention and you'll see it.

Here is the clip:


I wonder how many other folks caught this? Kudos to the animators for injecting a little extra fun into their piece.

The Hidden Link

Le Grand Content

Just watch. You will enjoy.

Le Grand Content

Another Think Coming

My previous post reminded me of this video which came out in November of 2004 by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson.



As Bob said "The times they are a-changin'".

Another Think Coming

Web 2.0 My Gosh

What I love about working in the field of advertising and marketing is that I often come across some very cool information. Cool to me at least. Often the information is in the form of presentations. Some I find while doing my own research. Others come to me from friends or colleagues. Today my sister sent me this one.



I live approximately 123 miles from K-State. My sister lives approximately 629 miles away. She found this video before I did. That got me thinking - a dangerous pastime... I know.

When I was a kid I made one of those can and string contraptions to talk to my neighbor Charlie from my bedroom window to his bedroom window in the house next door. It worked, but barely. To get it to work the best you had to pull the cans and string tight. If it was loose it wouldn't work. We had to be directly connected to each other to talk. To exchange information. To say things like "pretty cool, huh?" and "definitely awesome!". We were kids of the seventies and having your own can and string phone was pretty dang cool. It was right up there with Stretch Armstrong; red, white and blue wristbands and hand pumped, water propelled space rockets.

The can and string phone allowed us to make a direct connection. I'm sure we were limited by how far away we could get before it wouldn't work, but we never tested it out. Distance didn't hinder our communications. Finding enough string and two old cans was all we needed. We wanted to find a way to communicate and we did the best with what we had available to us.

Flash forward to 1991 and me sitting in my dorm room at Syracuse University. I had a 2,400 baud Cardinal modem and subscription to this new service from a company called Prodigy. I can recall waiting for my brother Brian to call me back to let me know that he got my message via the Prodigy service that we both had. He could call me back faster than a reply message could travel through cyberspace. When I got him on the line he'd say something like "pretty cool, huh?" and I'd reply "definitely awesome!"

Flash forward again to this week when my sister sent me an email with a link to this presentation. She could connect with me just as fast, if not faster via an email message than she could via a quick phone call. A few keystrokes, control- v to paste the link and hit "send". That's it. What she was really doing was wanting to communicate with me. She found a way she felt was the best and made a connection.

And so in some round about way, thinking about tin cans and string, my 2,400 baud modem and watching this presentation got me thinking about distance as a factor in accessing information. It's not a factor any more. Actually, check that, maybe distance is a factor, but not in terms of feet, yards or miles. Distance in terms of number of connections from the original source is a factor. But not much. Information travels so quickly that we all can get the exact same information in a matter of milliseconds. That is, as long as someone decides that they have some information they want others to know about.

Pretty cool, huh? Definitely awesome.

Web 2.0 My Gosh

A Great Presentation

Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden presented this talk last year at the TED Conference in Monterrey, CA. I was not familiar with Hans Rosling prior to watching this video, but I can tell you that his presentation is one I will remember.

From time to time I have had opportunities to listen to some very talented presenters and though I was not in attendance for the original presentation I would add watching this video of Hans Rosling to that list.

He combines statistics and graphics in a way that tells a story unlike most presentations you have ever seen. He is fully engaged, excited and ready to tell a story to make a point. Several points actually. I will not reveal the topic, but will bet that you will find it fascinating nonetheless. Pay attention to his presentation style. He takes what some might call a dry topic and gives it depth and interest with bits of humor throughout to keep the audience engaged and eager to learn what he will say next.

A Great Presentation